Editorial: Restore early voting

We continue to be hopeful the state Legislature will use the 2013 session to correct the voting problems that delayed Florida's presidential count in November.

The reason for that optimism is that a state House subcommittee on Wednesday considered a number of items we believe will aid voters while, at the same time, restore confidcne in the system.

There is growing evidence that cutting back the early voting days created long lines on Nov. 6, especially in South Florida. At precincts there, some people waited for hours - many until after the polls closed - to vote. The late night caused a delay in reporting the state's presidential returns. Fortunately, the race had been decided without Florida's 29 electoral votes.

In the aftermath, Gov. Rick Scott admitted it was an error of to reduce the early voting from 14 days to eight. He signed the legislation into law in 2011.

Now, Secretary of State Ken Detzner has weighed in with some sound proposals. Among them:

» Extend the early voting schedule from a minimum of eight days to a maximum of 14 days, while also allowing supervisors of elections the flexibility to offer early voting on the Sunday immediately prior to Election Day.

» Expand the allowable locations of early voting sites at government owned, managed or occupied facilities to include the main or branch office of a supervisor of elections, a city hall, courthouse, county commission building, public library, civic center, convention center, fairgrounds or stadium.

During a meeting last week with the House ethics and elections subcommittee, Detzner said he was confident his proposals will help.

"I am 100 percent confident that my report and our recommendations will solve the problem, and I am 100 percent sure that these recommendations were without party influence, were unbiased and were the best representation of the best people that I could find in Florida to make recommendations," Detzner said in the meeting covered by the News Service of Florida.

We objected to the fewer voting days when they were put in place and urge the Legislature to restore them, especially the Sunday before Election Day. As we have pointed out, that is just when voters, especially those with a passing interest, are starting to pay attention to the candidates, particularly those with national implications. Besides, we don't need to be tinkering with elections to suit the whim of lawmakers or politicians seeking to gain the upper hand.

We also applaud Detzner's push to allow supervisors of elections more discretion in handling when and where early voting can take place. Local elections supervisors David Stafford and Tappie Villane know their voters better than anyone.